Portugal Footwear Sector pitches reindustrialization in Brussels

The Portuguese footwear sector will convene in Brussels on June 16th to deliver a decisive mandate: European competitiveness, resilience, and sustainability depend entirely on a manufacturing renaissance.

In an initiative spearheaded by APICCAPS and the Portuguese Footwear Technology Centre—supported by REPER and the Confederation of the European Footwear Industry (CEC)—the national industry will present European policymakers with a scalable reindustrialization blueprint anchored in innovation, sustainability, and localized production. Hosted at the Permanent Representation of Portugal to the European Union (REPER), the high-level session will unite over 100 European dignitaries, including MEPs, institutional leaders, executives, and trade partners, to navigate industrial strategy amidst volatile geopolitical, economic, and environmental shifts.

The stakes are globally significant. Of the 24 billion pairs of shoes produced annually worldwide, approximately 88 per ccent originate in Asia. Consequently, Europe faces a critical mandate to reclaim production capacity and secure the autonomy of its downstream value chains.

Against this backdrop, Portugal serves as a prime industrial case study. Over recent decades, the national footwear sector has established a premium international benchmark built on quality, specialized knowledge, design, and advanced technological integration. Now, the cluster aims to prove that European manufacturing can simultaneously generate high value and compete on a global scale.

“It is possible to manufacture excellent footwear in Europe in a sustainable, innovative and economically viable way,” argues Luís Onofre, President of APICCAPS. “We believe that industry has a central role in the future of the European project and we want to actively contribute to this reflection.”

To back this vision, the sector recently executed its largest collective investment strategy to date, mobilizing over €100 million via the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) to accelerate digital and environmental transitions.

Central to this transformation is BioShoes4All, a €70 million flagship initiative uniting over 60 partners—including enterprise companies, universities, and technology centers. The project is actively overhauling the footwear value chain through the commercialization of biomaterials, end-to-end production digitization, waste valorization, and closed-loop circular economy models.

For Onofre, the discourse surrounding European manufacturing has escalated to a core strategic imperative.

“We continue to believe in the future of industrial production in Europe. But reindustrialization requires a clear vision, consistent policies, and fair competitive conditions on a global scale,” he states.

The Brussels assembly, which also includes cross-industry sectors invited by APICCAPS, aims to solidify this macroeconomic agenda: Europe requires an ambitious industrial policy that prioritizes local production, catalyzes R&D, and engineers resilient value chains. Portugal’s footwear sector intends to remain at the vanguard of this structural shift.